Do you maintain a workout schedule twice a day? Have you found yourself missing commitments to go to the gym? Do you fit your workout into your day or does your day fit into your workout?  If you have asked yourself these questions, you may suffer from exercise addiction.

                                           

                Habitual exercise for most of us is a healthy habit.  However, today as many as 10% of runners and bodybuilders are classified as excessive exercisers.  According to the Harvard School of Public Health the average person only needs 30-45 minutes per day of exercise to maintain a healthy lifestyle. There are many people who feel adding an extra 1-2 hours on to that regiment automatically gives them an upper hand with their health.  They fail to realize it doesn’t work that way.

 

                “From a strength and conditioning standpoint excessive exercise is when the catabolic effects of rigorous exercise exceed anabolic effects of muscle building and bone reformation. Basically stressing the body more than one can keep up with” said Christian Barnes, Exercise Science Lecturer at UNCW.

 

                Those with exercise addiction often become dependent upon the pleasure it exerts and become unable to stop. There is an excess release of endorphins in the brain, causing a gratifying feeling resembling that of a drug. Too often gym goers become addicted to that pleasure yet fail to see the damage they are exerting on their bodies.

 

In 2011 a study was conducted in Britain to compare the heart damages of excessive exercise on active and retired Olympian athletes aged 26-67 years old. The control group included 20 healthy adults 50 years of age and older who were not Olympian athletes. Exercise addiction has proven to be most prevalent among those twenty years of age to the mid-thirties, however there have been cases in athletes older than fifty. The results of the study were staggering.

 

The young adults and control group had no serious damage in their hearts. Conversely, the group of retired Olympian athletes aged 50-67 had relevant heart damage. Half of the older Olympian group were diagnosed with fibrosis (heart scarring) of the heart. This particular half included those that had worked the most vigorously over their careers, proving strenuous exercise can been seriously damaging to the body.

 

So how do you know if you’re exercising too much?

 

Physically, as a male if you are below 5% body fat or a female below 8% then most likely you need to cut down on your exercise. But there are other simpler ways to tell.

 

“You’ve got nerves in your body and an inflammation system. If it hurts? Then stop!” said Dr.Robert Boyce, UNCW Professor. “Start off very easy if you are not used to exercise. The first two weeks there should be no severing soreness. Soreness means injury.”

 

According to Barnes there is often a four stage process in the bodily functions of adults addicted to exercise. The first stage involves altered neuron function, the cells in your body begin to function improperly. The second stage involves altered motor unit movement, incoordination of your muscle movement. The third stage involves mood alteration, increased blood pressure, and an altered immune system. Lastly the fourth stage involves sickness, infection, and emotional and sleep disturbances. But, these symptoms being applied to one’s body is all dependent to the specific person.

 

“In 1890 a study was conducted on exercise throughout in a man’s day. At 4:30am he would chop wood. He would make breakfast, change, and walk four miles to work as a doctor. After he would walk home four miles, chop more wood, make dinner and go to bed just to do it all over again” said Barnes. “Genetically we all respond differently to exercise as a mechanical stress” .

 

Regardless of how much you exercise, it is really all dependent on our genetic background and personal lifestyle.  To the man mentioned above, that was a very average day. To the average man today, that may be more exercise than they perform in a week.

 

Exercise can serve as a positive outlet for anyone willing to take the time to do it. However the ability to overdo exercise is easier than one would think. Take it slow, monitor your progress, and if something begins to hurt,stop!